site.btaNovember 19, 1962: Todor Zhivkov Is Elected PM to Become Bulgaria's Longest-Serving Communist Leader
Sixty-two years ago today, the Bulgarian National Assembly elects Todor Zhivkov as Prime Minister.
Zhivkov (September 7, 1911 – August 5, 1998) was at the helm of Bulgaria since 1954, when he became First Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) in 1954. He served as Prime Minister from 1962 to 1971 (thereafter renamed Chairman of the State Council), which position he held concurrently with his post as First Secretary.
He remained in these positions for 35 years to the very end of totalitarian rule in Bulgaria in 1989, and thus became the longest-serving leader of any European Eastern Bloc nation after WWII.
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